Q and A with young people from the Pilton Youth & Children’s Project FACENorth Group
The Pilton Youth & Children’s Project FACENorth Group focusses on alternatives to crime in Edinburgh north. More information about this project can be found here. What age should you start to be charged from and why? “14, because that’s when you start getting in trouble and learn stuff.” “16, that’s when you get the jail […]
Read more
Life is hard in general, regardless of your background…
…For me, social work breathing down my neck, being in a care home, being homeless, experiencing mental health issues, as well as getting in trouble with police, made it extra hard. When I was rebellious, this was a way of preventing me from feeling vulnerable and from feeling emotions which inevitably caused negative effects throughout […]
Read more
Our wakeup call: A disappointing increase in offence referrals
We felt the need to write this blog following the publication of the Scottish Children’s Reporters Administration (SCRA) Annual Statistics, which show an increase in the number of offence referrals made for young people. Rather than use the old clichéd disclaimer about statistics, let’s say that statistics paint a picture, and it is for us […]
Read more
Pink socks
I hate personal disclosures, which is rather unfortunate in this field of work, as we all need them. They remind me of pink socks; a constant reminder of that one time you accidently let a red sock sneak into the washing machine with your white ones. This doesn’t make you a bad person. It doesn’t […]
Read more
Dual Diagnosis in Scottish prisons
According to statistics published by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, mental health issues affect as many as 9 out of 10 prisoners. The Hughes Report quotes that 70% of all prisoners have combined mental health and substance misuse problems, meaning that 70% of prisoners suffer from ‘dual diagnosis’. Dual diagnosis is the combination of a […]
Read more
A Walk Down Their Street
For those of you who do not know about ‘The Street’, then all I can say is you are missing out, and you need to get that sorted. I had been hoping for an opportunity to visit the Street project since I first heard about it three years ago, and a few weeks ago I […]
Read more
Look, Listen
The last few years have been a year of firsts. The first baby boxes. The first independent Root & Branch review of our care system. We’re the first country to ban the physical punishment of our children. Latterly, the world’s first Year of Young People. I also want this year to have another first. The […]
Read more
Pigeonholing
Article 12 of the UNCRC states that nation states have a duty to listen to the views of young people, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender or any other characteristic. In this blog, Lizzie Coutts of Positive Prison? Positive Futures talks about her involvement in a project which aims to support young people with experience of […]
Read more
Reflections on Addictions and Criminal Justice
This May (2018), I attended the ‘Addictions and Criminal Justice’ conference hosted by SASO (Scottish Association for the Study of Offending). The event was Chaired by Sheriff Iain Fleming, who began by discussing Glasgow Drug Courts, and split into four sessions with nine speakers including the Sheriff’s responsible for overseeing the drug court, practitioners in […]
Read more
